May 25 - 30, Elliott Key, Key Biscayne, Lake Worth and Jensen

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RED SKY AT NIGHT, SAILORS DELIGHT! 

Lots of red skies this week and some great photos! 

We left Islamorada on Tuesday morning. Bruce is manning the anchor while Rosie and Bella mind the helm. 

Though Bella was minding that sunrise! 

She was mesmerized. 

It is still breezy though nothing like the last 10 days. 

We had a dolphin catch a ride with our wake for quite a while! I got several videos and photos. 

If the video doesn’t show up, click below.

https://youtu.be/fVkytP_DjmY

 Hope the links work! It was very cool. 

The ride through the Keys in the Florida Bay was nice. Pretty water, lots of shoaling though. 

We stopped at Elliott Key for 2 days. The water is immaculate there, much like the Bahamas. 

Bruce is off to check the anchor. Just like the Bahamas here the bottom can be coral or rock with not much sand to grab. Anchor was set in a good spot. 

During the 2 day stay, we we took several dinghy trips to different beaches and islands. 

Full moon. 

Red sky at night, sailors delight! 

So the saying goes. 

The next day we took a longer ride over to Boca Chica Key. Bella was super excited to see real grass but “no pets allowed” was posted. 

Another red sky night!

And full moon night 

Thursday, we moved about 18 miles to Key Biscayne, just across from Miami. 

We took a walk to the lighthouse. I have painted this one several times and happy to know that 2 out of 3 are in my collectors homes! 

It is on a beach that is frequently listed as one of the top 10. Not this year though! 

Sunset on Thursday. 

With another red sky! Miami in the distance. 

Friday morning, we left at 6 am for a 10 hour run offshore to Lake Worth in the Palm Beach area. The morning sky was beautiful with the lighthouse. 

The seas were predicted to be 2’ or less. I would say they were more but both Bella and I took precautions and we were fine for the long day of dodging 2 ocean going tankers, 2 cruise ships, several small dive boats and a million small fishing boats. We were on autopilot but had to keep an eye out for them and be ready to move. 

Saturday, we lifted anchor at 8am and after hovering/waiting for an opening at the fuel dock, we took on 278 gallons of diesel. That should get us home. Lake Worth is a large port as well so as we left we were dodging some big guys as well as a million small boaters out for the holiday weekend.

 

According to our FL sister, this is the peak of the season for the Royal Poincianas. This one is just stunning. 

We stopped at Jensen for the night and was hoping to meet up with our sister for breakfast but we scouted for good place to leave the dinghy and it just won't work. 😞

May 24, Marathon to Islamorada

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Sunday sunrise and looking like some rain coming. We have had only one light rain all week with the strong winds. The humidity is low, rare in S Fl - Keys in May. Winds are subsiding a bit. Weatherman says breezy now instead of windy! 

Friday morning, the local weather man stated, "Marathon is recording gusts up to 33 this morning and the seas in the Florida straits are up to 13'.”  Yeah, we stayed put! Even though we are in a very well protected harbor it is still choppy in here but thankfully Summer Breeze handles this very well and we don't feel the chop inside. We check the mooring lines and say "ok", we are good.

Sunday evening we finally made it over to Dockside restaurant (really a bar) on the other side of the harbor. We had a great time, listened to some great music and had some ok food. But you know it’s time to leave when I’m drinking Monkey in Your Trunk and Iguana Bait beer abd it tastes good! Or... maybe it’s time to stay? Hmmmm

 

Got some really great shots of the sax player. I feel another musician painting coming! 

Monday morning, we left at 7:30 am. The winds are predicted to slow down some being making the waterway reasonable. We took the Florida bay route vs offshore as it is much calmer. The bay route can be tricky with the shoals and little mangrove islands everywhere. 

Anchored behind Islamorada for the night. Tomorrow we head tor Elliott Key closer to Miami. Time to head home. 

Miles traveled today : 44

7 hours 

May 16- 19, Batten Down the Hatches!

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Bella’s ears are flying back in the wind. 

As I write this today, Wednesday afternoon, we are battening down the hatches and checking our lines one more time! It is BLOWING! Steady winds 25-35 with gusts close to 40. Seas just outside the harbor are reported to be 8’ today and up to 12’ tomorrow. We are in a very protected harbor and is is white capping! 

Last Saturday’s sunset inside Boot Key Harbor 

Sunday

Sombrero Beach 

The marina has some courtesy bikes for us to use. We took a bike ride to the beach and publix. It has been quite a while since either of us have been on a bike and I'm happy to report that Bruce did not go into any bushes. 

We walked to dinner to Keys Fisheries, just across the street from the marina. Again there were several acres of stored crab and lobster traps since the season is closed for both. 

The restaurant is waterfront but on the bay side and is all outdoor seating. You place your order at a window and they call you when ready to pick it up. Drinks are at a different window and you find a table.

 They also have a seafood market if you prefer to buy and take home to cook. We were prepared with a small insulated bag to take home fresh grouper and lobsters (frozen).

Sunset from the restaurant 

Sunset at the marina. This is a partial image of just one side of the mooring field. 226 balls!

Panoramic shot of harbor 

Monday

We had planned to ride a city shuttle bus to Bahia Hondo Key and State Park today but the bus never came! We waited quite a while even trying the app but no bus. So we walked back to the marina and enjoyed a lazy day. 

Dinner was fresh grouper and home made key lime pie. 

Monday sunset 

Tuesday sunrise 

When is the wind going to STOP? It has been blowing strong since last Friday and getting stronger each day. Sunday or Monday might be a departure day.

We do need to venture to shore on the dinghy in between gusts to go to West Marine. Yes, another repair! The bolt that the cable is attached to on the dinghy broke and we are beyond lucky that it didn’t break while hoisting it on top. That repair is a must before we leave. 

Sunset tonight after a brief rain storm and winds. 

May 15, Marathon in the Keys

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At anchorage just south of the 7 Mile Bridge off of Marathon. The water is clean, clear and beautiful.

We both went for a great and cooling swim!

Dinner at Burdines, just a short dinghy ride into the harbor. We ate here last year as well. It is all outdoor seating, great pub food as well a small marina.

The harbor entrance from the ocean and our anchorage just past that last mangrove. It is beautifully calm out there except for the passing fishing boats. 

View going into Boot Key Harbor where the big marina (mooring ball marina) is. If we go in for weather, we have go through all this. 

And of course, we did. 

The next morning, we decided that the northeaster winds coming down will be quite strong so we would like to be inside tied to "something" other than sand. The City Marina at Marathon is mostly a mooring field consisting of 226 moorings. That's a lot of boats! It makes us a bit nervous going in there. 

Captain Bruce did a great job of maneuvering us in with a NE strong wind and nestled us into a mooring ball on the far end of our line of balls. They assign us T1. All the blue and black dots are the mooring field.

We were rewarded with a great sunset on our 1st night. The bigger part of the mooring field is behind us .

The next day we dinghy into to drop trash and pick up some filtered water and had to stop the motor to play with the manatees that were determined to visit us. These photos were taken from our dinghy.

A family quickly boarded their 2 small children on a paddle board to join us with the manatees. The kids were squealing and the manatees loved it. 

Today (Saturday May 15), our oldest granddaughter Jordan graduated from UNC at Chapell Hill, NC! 

Where has the time gone? We are so very proud of her. 

We sent her a congratulatory video but I can't show that because I'm crying. We couldn't be there because only 4 tickets were allowed per graduate. We watched the ceremony on live stream. 

Jordan! So proud of you!

The ceremony was social distanced and only 4 guests per graduates allowed and Dr Fauci was the keynote speaker.

We dinghied around scouting out an entrance to a restaurant we are interested in going to and found the stored lobster (or stone crab?) traps and the lobster boats. Stone crab season just closed. There is a long "block" of the traps and boats just for this company.